Leviticus 16
BBCLeviticus 16:1
V. THE DAY OF ATONEMENT (Chap. 16)The greatest day on the Jewish calendar was the Day of Atonement (Heb., Yf4m Kippur), when the high priest went into the Most Holy Place with sacrificial blood to make atonement for himself and for the people. It fell on the tenth day of the seventh month, five days before the Feast of Tabernacles. Although the Day of Atonement is usually listed along with the feasts of Jehovah, it was actually a time of fasting and solemnity (Lev_23:27-32). It will be helpful to remember that in this chapter the Most Holy Place (the “Holy of Holies”) is called the Holy Place, and the Holy Place is called the tabernacle of meeting. 16:1-3 The sacrilege of the two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, forms the backdrop for these instructions. A fate similar to theirs would befall the high priest if he entered the Most Holy Place on any day other than the Day of Atonement. And on that day he must carry the blood of a young bull for a sin offering and of a ram as a burnt offering. 16:4-10 The order of events is not easy to follow, but the following is a general outline of the ritual. First the high priest bathed and dressed in white linen . . . garments (v. 4). By way of preliminaries, he brought a bullock and a ram to the tabernacle. He would offer these for himself and for his family, the bull for a sin offering and the ram for a burnt offering (v. 3). He brought two . . . goats and one ram which he would offer for the people, the goats for a sin offering and the ram for a burnt offering (v. 5). He presented the two goats before the door of the tabernacle and cast lotsone for the LORD and the other lot as a scapegoat (vv. 7, 8). The word translated “scapegoat” is Azazel, meaning “goat of departure.” 16:11-22 Then he killed the bull as the sin offering . . . for himself and for his house (v. 11). Next he took a censer . . . of burning coals with his hands full of sweet incense and carried them into the Most Holy Place. There he poured the incense over the live coals, causing a cloud of incense to cover the mercy seat (vv. 12, 13). He returned to the altar of burnt offering for some blood of the bull, took it into the Most Holy Place, and sprinkled it on top of the mercy seat and in front of it seven times (v. 14). He killed the goat chosen for a sin offering (v. 8), and sprinkled its blood, as he did the blood of the bull, before and on the mercy seat (vv. 9, 15). This made atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel (v. 16).
By the sprinkling of blood he also made atonement . . . for the tabernacle and for the altar of burnt offering (vv. 18, 19), though the details here are not clear. Atonement started with the Most Holy Place, then worked outward to the Holy Place and finally to the brazen altar (vv. 15-19). After he laid both his hands on the head of the scapegoat (v. 8) and confessed the sins of the people (vv. 10, 20, 21), a chosen man led the goat into the wilderness (vv. 21, 22). The two goats symbolized two different aspects of atonement: “that which meets the character and holiness of God, and that which meets the need of the sinner as to the removal of his sins.” Aaron’s laying his hands on the head of the live goat pictures the placing of the sins of Israel (and of ourselves) on Christ, to be taken away forever (v. 21). The hymnwriter has expressed it thus: My sins were laid on Jesus, The spotless Lamb of God; He bore them all and freed me From the accursed load. My guilt was borne by Jesus; He cleansed the crimson stains In His own blood most precious And not a spot remains. Horatius Bonar, alt. 16:23-33 The high priest bathed in a holy place, perhaps at the laver, then put on his garments of glory and beauty (vv. 23, 24a). Jewish tradition says that the white linen garments were never worn again. The high priest next offered two rams as burnt offerings, one for himself and the other for the people (v. 24b). He burned the fat of the two sin offerings on the altar while their skins, their flesh, and their offal were being burned outside the camp (vv. 25, 27). Even the skin of the burnt offering, which usually went to the priest (Lev_7:8), was to be burned. According to the Jewish Talmud, the high priest went into the Holy of Holies after the evening sacrifice to bring out the censer. In the ritual of atonement, the people confessed their sins and refrained from work (v. 29). From the above it will be seen that the high priest entered the Most Holy Place at least four times. This does not contradict Heb_9:7-12, where the thought is that there was only one day in the year when the high priest could enter. 16:34 Despite the solemn ceremonies of this day, its failure to adequately deal with sins was written across it in the words “once a year.” “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins” (Heb_10:4). In vivid contrast is the work of Christ, by which human sins are totally removed instead of being merely covered for a year! Isaac Watts expressed it this way: Not all the blood of beasts On Jewish altars slain, Could give the guilty conscience peace, Or wash away its stain. But Christ, the heavenly Lamb Took all our sins away, A sacrifice of nobler name And richer blood than they.